UFC 160 takes place May 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and features a heavyweight title fight between champion Cain Velasquez and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Although the UFC has not made a formal announcement of the fight, Bowles vs. Roop likely will be part of the preliminary card.

Bowles makes a long-awaited return to the octagon after being out of action since a November 2011 loss to Urijah Faber at UFC 139. In that fight, he was stooped by a Faber guillotine choke in the second round for just the second loss of his career. The former WEC standout upset Miguel Torres in August 2009 to win that promotion's bantamweight title, but in his first defense, he lost it to current sidelined champ Dominick Cruz when he couldn't continue after two rounds due to a broken hand.

That injury kept him out for a year, but he returned in impressive fashion with a "Submission of the Night" first-round win over Damacio Page in his UFC debut and followed that up with a win over Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 132 before the loss to Faber.

After a 1-3 stretch at featherweight in his second stint in the UFC, Roop dropped down to bantamweight for the second time in his career and picked up a unanimous decision win over Reuben Duran just 10 days ago at UFC 158 in Montreal. That win snapped a two-fight skid that saw him stopped by Cub Swanson and on the wrong end of a controversial split decision to Hatsu Hioki. Roop, a former "TUF" contestant at lightweight and longtime featherweight, had only competed once at bantamweight before UFC 158 – a loss to Eddie Wineland at WEC 46 more than three years ago.

I think Bowles wins, but I'd be a lot more confident if he wasn't coming off a year and a half layoff.

Say what you want about Roop, but the murderers row of opponents the guy has faced is impressive. Wineland, Garcia, Zombie, Hominick, Grispi, Hioki, Cub, Bowles. All either held or fought for a title or were considered the top contender at one point.

George Roop will make a fast turnaround after his first bantamweight victory, and he'll do it against a former champion.
Roop (13-9-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) will stay at 135 pounds and meet Brian Bowles (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at the UFC's Memorial Day weekend card, UFC 160, in Las Vegas. Sources with knowledge of the fight on Thursday confirmed the booking toMMAjunkie.com(www.mmajunkie.com).

UFC 160 takes place May 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and features a heavyweight title fight between champion Cain Velasquez and Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Although the UFC has not made a formal announcement of the fight, Bowles vs. Roop likely will be part of the preliminary card.

Bowles makes a long-awaited return to the octagon after being out of action since a November 2011 loss to Urijah Faber at UFC 139. In that fight, he was stopped by a Faber guillotine choke in the second round for just the second loss of his career. The former WEC standout upset Miguel Torres in August 2009 to win that promotion's bantamweight title, but in his first defense, he lost it to current sidelined champ Dominick Cruz when he couldn't continue after two rounds due to a broken hand.

That injury kept him out for a year, but he returned in impressive fashion with a "Submission of the Night" first-round win over Damacio Page in his UFC debut and followed that up with a win over Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 132 before the loss to Faber.

After a 1-3 stretch at featherweight in his second stint in the UFC, Roop dropped down to bantamweight for the second time in his career and picked up a unanimous decision win over Reuben Duran just 10 days ago at UFC 158 in Montreal. That win snapped a two-fight skid that saw him stopped by Cub Swanson and on the wrong end of a controversial split decision to Hatsu Hioki. Roop, a former "TUF" contestant at lightweight and longtime featherweight, had only competed once at bantamweight before UFC 158 – a loss to Eddie Wineland at WEC 46 more than three years ago.

Fun fight, should be a good stand up fight. Idk its close, i could give it to Roop due to his range and size, but Bowles has so much power in those hands he might catch Roop with a body shot and drop him. I guess ill take Bowles via TKO 1st round.